[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 186 (Friday, December 11, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         WALL STREET REFORM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 9, 2009

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under considerations the bill (H.R. 4173) to 
     provide for financial regulatory reform, to protect consumers 
     and investors, to enhance Federal understanding of insurance 
     issues, to regulate the over-the-counter derivatives markets, 
     and for other purposes:

  Mr. CONYERS. Madam Chair, last fall we witnessed the greatest 
financial collapse in American history since the Great Depression. As 
Main Street recovers from Wall Street's excesses, we must reexamine the 
laws that govern banks and other financial institutions and hold them 
accountable for their actions. The collapse of our economy shows the 
need for tough new regulations. Today, the House will vote on H.R. 
4173, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, a bill 
authored by Chairman Frank that aims to rein in the titans of finance's 
excesses and protect consumers from unfair and abusive practices.
  The bill being considered today creates the Consumer Financial 
Protection Agency (CFPA) with the sole mission of protecting consumers 
from financial products and services. Banks, subprime mortgage 
companies, pay day lenders, and money transmitters will be under the 
supervision of the CFPA. The new agency will stop unfair, deceptive and 
abusive consumer financial products and services.
  During the last bubble, executives at banks took on more risk because 
risk was profitable. No one paid much attention to what would happen 
when the speculation bubble burst. Today's bill will amend this 
practice by allowing shareholders of public companies to have an 
annual, nonbinding ``say on pay'' vote on compensation packages for 
executives. Federal regulators will be authorized to ban any 
inappropriate or risky compensation practices that pose a threat to the 
financial system and to the broader economy.
  I am concerned this legislation does not go far enough. Specifically, 
today's bill will focus on empowering our financial regulators to 
manage and mitigate some level of ``acceptable risk'' within the 
present system, instead of correcting the structural flaws that make a 
collapse likely to recur. As a result, I am an advocate of a modernized 
Glass-Steagall act which would mandate that America's banking sectors 
and investment houses need to remain separate to prevent banks from 
gambling on the stock market with our savings.
  Moreover, I am worried that consumers will not be allowed to address 
their grievances with financial institutions and banks through the 
CFPA. Banks rarely directly violate specific federal rules, but the 
same cannot be said for some of the smaller nonbank lenders, brokers, 
and other individuals and entities who will be governed by CFPA rules. 
Violations by smaller actors are less likely to be worth the investment 
of resources for a federal agency enforcement action, or even one by a 
state AG, but they can have a devastating impact on individuals 
nonetheless. Individual remedies are essential to holding all violators 
accountable and providing incentives for everyone to comply. The 
Federal Trade Commission received 78,000 complaints against debt 
collectors last year and took only 3 enforcement actions. Consumers 
must be able to stand up and defend themselves and hold wrongdoers 
accountable if CFPA rules are violated. For over 200 years, it has been 
a fundamental tenet of American law, derived from our Anglo-Saxon 
heritage, that ``for every right, there's a remedy.'' The concept is 
commonsense: wrongdoers who violate laws should be accountable to those 
they injure.
  Madam Chair, even with all of the legislation's weak points, the Wall 
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act makes great strides to shield 
Americans from the despotic behavior of Wall Street. I urge my 
colleagues to support today's bill.

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